With the development of increasingly fine and higher levels of integration in semiconductor integrated circuits in recent years, a so-called nano-imprinting method is known as technology for forming a fine structure on a substrate, in which a fine pattern is transferred by applying a resist (e.g., UV-curable resin) onto a substrate, curing the resist by irradiation of UV light in a state where a stamper formed with a desired projection-recess pattern to be transferred is pressed against the resist, and separating the stamper from the resist on the substrate.
In the nano-imprinting method described in PTL 1, inkjet technology is used for applying a resist onto a substrate. In this technology, when ejecting droplets of liquid or resist solution from the nozzles of an inkjet head to dispose the droplets on a substrate, the distance between the droplets and the volume of the droplets are adjusted in accordance with the pattern shape of the stamper, in such a manner that a resin layer is formed to a uniform thin thickness (residual film) after imprinting or pattern transfer.